Chance Encounter

A few days had passed since Rana first heard the rumor about the cursed child.

On that day, her husband, Parirot, hadn't returned home until after Ikeranjel had fallen fast asleep.

Apparently, the repairs on the magic lamps at the government office had taken longer than expected, and on top of that, he'd been cornered by the folks from the Chamber of Commerce youth section and couldn't break away from their meeting for a while.

To her husband, cheeks flushed and smelling slightly of drink...... Rana said nothing about the rumor of the cursed child.

As always, she hugged him to welcome him home, scolded him with a wry smile for being so late, talked about how their son had been that day and how sales were going, and then went to bed.

Parirot was a cheerful goofball, but he was a kind man.

He was nothing like that violent drunk, that piece of trash.

If he heard the rumor, he would surely understand immediately what Rana was so afraid of, and he would stay by her side and comfort her.

But Rana didn't want that.

Because then, Parirot's heart would be wounded as well.

This was Rana's sin.

Averting her eyes from that sin, running from it again and again, shutting it out of her mind.

Even so, a fierce guilt still came over her now and then.

She believed that she alone should bear it all.

Parirot was merely the catalyst.

There was no need for him to suffer.

◇ ◇ ◇

Now, on this day, Rana had closed the Parirot Magic Lamp Store early and come to the market in the town of Serelirin to do some shopping.

In the alleys between dull, pale-yellow walls, wooden crates had been set out wherever anyone pleased, piled with vegetables, meat, fish and more for sale.

Serelirin was a fairly populous town, and its market offered all sorts of goods.

The snow from a few days ago hadn't completely melted yet, and piles of snow could still be seen here and there in the market, but the shopkeepers called out to customers regardless of the cold.

Their energy was enough to make you forget it was winter.

“Topopolock meat, salted sakke, winter-grown leafy greens, and fist beans......”

Thinking about the menu for the coming week, Rana placed the necessary ingredients into her shopping basket one after another.

“Hey! Rana-chan, you're as cute as ever today!”

“Oh, stop it, Oji-san! ......Oh, what's that?”

“This? This here's dried vinegar ivy! Put it in a soup or whatever and it gives it a nice refreshing tang—it's brand new! Gonna take some?”

“Yes, I'll take one bunch, please.”

Several years had already passed since Rana began living in the town of Serelirin, and she was now well-acquainted with the people of the market.

Rana loved talking with these cheerful people.

It blew away her dark moods and served as a change of pace.

Sometimes she ended up buying too much, but since maintaining these connections led to more requests for the magic lamp store, she considered it a necessary expense.

“......Oh, is it already this late?”

Having gotten completely caught up in a conversation with a greengrocer's wife of the same age, Rana noticed the sun was about to set beyond the townscape and gasped, covering her mouth with her hand.

“Whoops, sorry, Rana-chan! I took up too much of your time!”

“It's fine, it's fine! I had fun today too! Thank you for chatting with me!”

“Ahaha, you're welcome! Well, it's about time I closed up shop too...... Ah, here, Rana-chan, this one's on the house! Gaguge potatoes! They're sweet!”

“Wow, Ike will love these!”

Waving to the greengrocer, Rana turned and hurried toward home.

Her husband had said he'd be late today as well.

Ikeranjel had probably already returned.

The poor thing shouldn't have to wait too long for his dinner.

“......Maybe I'll take a little shortcut.”

So, instead of the main street she always used, Rana took the narrow, winding back alleys.

If she used this path, she would get home a little faster.

Serelirin was a safe town, and a quiet road was no reason to fear getting caught up in a crime.

She didn't normally take this way simply because it felt somehow forlorn, and she didn't like that.

Since the sun was already setting, the area was a bit dim, and combined with the narrowness of the old alley and the lack of people, it felt somewhat eerie.

In Rana's heart, which had lifted a bit from chatting at the market, anxiety reared its head once more.

“............”

But Rana forcibly suppressed it and pressed forward.

Putting a lid on the unpleasant feelings, on the memories she didn't want to recall.

It was her specialty, something she did all the time.

To look away from her anxiety, Rana desperately tried to rethink tonight's menu.

She had Gaguge potatoes.

Should she boil and mash them, then put them in bread?

Or should she sauté them and pair them with meat?

Either way, Ikeranjel would be happy.

Desperately, she conjured her son's smile in her mind.

She conjured her husband's smile in her mind.

Everyone gathered around the table with smiles on their faces.

A happy family of 3.

“Uwaaaaaaah!!”

But Rana's happy daydream was cut short by a boy's scream, one she knew very well.

The place: a crossroads of alleys, where the buildings made it hard to see around the corners!

“Eh...... Kyaa!?”

Hearing the scream, Rana started to turn toward the voice...... toward the alley on her right, and collided with its owner, who seemed to have been running at full speed, landing on her backside!

The impact made her drop her shopping basket, and the Gaguge potatoes went rolling away.

“Ouch...... Hey, be careful, that was dangerous...... wait.”

“H, huh!? Mama!?”

Rana looked at the owner of the voice, who had tumbled against her as she sat there, almost clinging to her stomach...... at the boy, and was startled.

Because it was her own son, Ikeranjel, who she'd thought would be home by now.

“Honestly, Ike! What are you doing? It's already dark, and you're still running around playing?”

Rana let out a sigh and gave him her usual scolding.

But the way Ikeranjel took it was different from usual.

First, his outfit was strange.

He had his father's protective work helmet on his head, and on his back he carried a tool bag full of metal tools, also his father's work gear.

And he was breathing hard, trembling violently.

His face was pale.

He looked as if all the blood had drained from his face after encountering something absolutely terrifying.

“M, Mama! This is no time for that! L, let's run! We have to run, hurry!!”

“Huh? Ike, what's gotten into you?”

“I, I made her angry!! I met her...... the cursed child from the rumors!!!”

Hearing her son Ikeranjel's words, Rana caught her breath with a little gasp...... and it was then!

“............”

The Gaguge potatoes, which had gone rolling and rolling along, bumped into someone's foot and stopped.

A small foot.

What's more, though it was winter, though it stood on cold cobblestones, that foot was bare.

With the setting sun behind it, the figure was in silhouette, but even so, she could see that its skin was as white as snow.

“U, UWAAH! IT'S HEREEEEEE!!”

At the sight of it suddenly appearing in the alley he had come running from, Ikeranjel shook with terror, shrieked, and clung to Rana as tightly as he could.

In other words, this was the very being he had said he'd angered.

Rana forgot to breathe as she stared at that being.

Now, the only thing reaching her ears was the dokun, dokun of her own heart beating.

Slowly, slowly, timidly, Rana moved her gaze from the feet up toward the head.

Its feet were bare, but above them it wore ordinary trousers, a little frayed at the hems, and above those...... it seemed to be wearing something she couldn't make sense of: something spiky, like murky black rock.

On those spikes, a rusty red surfaced now and then, and vanished.

Inexplicable, and ghastly.

Just looking at it filled her with dread.

But more than that, above all else.

And its head, popping out from the top of that murky black, rock-like something.

Black hair, black eyes.

A cursed child.

She was a cursed child.

But she wasn't just any cursed child.

A face so unnaturally perfect that once seen, it could never be forgotten.

Rana, that face.

Rana!

Remembered it!!

She had always tried to forget, always tried to forget!!

But she couldn't forget!!

There was a resemblance!!

Since infancy, that child had been abnormally beautiful!!

There was absolutely no mistake!!

Even though Rana knew!!

Even though she knew that village had been destroyed by monsters!!

Even though she had thought that child had already died!!

Rana was certain of it!!

Even though she wanted to believe such a thing was impossible!!

That child!!

That child!!

......That child!!

Was the one she had once abandoned...... her daughter!!

“E...... mi......”

In spite of herself, the name spilled from Rana's lips.

Hearing this, the cursed child...... shifted her gaze from Ikeranjel, whom she had been chasing, to Rana.

With those deep, deep black eyes, she stared and stared at Rana.

Her expression was completely blank.

A lifeless gaze, with no emotion she could read in it.

How much time had passed?

After a while, the cursed child finally opened her mouth.

And then.

“So this is where you were.”

That was what she murmured, quietly.

Not to Ikeranjel, whom she had been chasing.

But looking straight into Rana's eyes.

The shadow of the cursed child, stretched long, long by the setting sun, mingled with Rana and Ikeranjel's shadows, becoming one.